Happily-Ever-Afterville
by FeedtheFlames
Summary: A series of related one-shots in what I call Happily-Ever-Afterville, where Arthur lives, Merlin reveals his magic, Gwen and Arthur have lots of babies, Gwaine and Percival each get their own respective families, and Merlin stays the same forever (the goofy uncle!). Mostly humor and fluff but some serious moments as well. Not sure how often I'll update so listed as complete.
1. Fluff and Nonsense

**AN: In my mind Arthur didn't die, he found out about Merlin's magic and they ruled the kingdom together for many many years, Gwaine and Percival both got their own families, Arthur and and Guinevere had several children and Merlin stayed Merlin forever (the best goofy uncle around).**

**So this story is from that alternate universe where they live happily ever after… hope you enjoy the fluff!**

**ps This is my first Gwen story, don't know how good it's going to be.**

Gwen sat in Gaius' chambers ringing her hands together nervously. She dared not even hope, she and Arthur had been trying for years without success to have a child. She had had several false alarms in the past yet every time she could not help but be nervous, even as her hope faded each day. The first time she had told Arthur, he had been overjoyed, only to go to Gaius and discover that she had been wrong.

Arthur had hidden it well but she knew him well enough to know that he had been crushed. A good husband, he had comforted her as she cried into the night. The next time she went to Gaius first, and the next and the next. Now she was there again, she wondered if the physician got tired of her but he was always so comforting and really what else could she do.

At one point she had even gone to Merlin, to see if anything magical could be done. He was quiet for a long time, he looked so different, not quite comfortable in his new clothes which showed his new status as Court Sorcerer. He had his own chambers, similar to Gaius', already starting to be filled with different magical objects, books, and ingredients for different poultices.

That was when he had sat her down and told her about Arthur's mother. She had heard the story before, though much more vague from Arthur. She hadn't realized magic's role in his mother's death and knew it was a mistake that they would not repeat. Merlin being the good friend that he was had grieved with her and then proceeded to cheer her up by showing off with a few simple tricks, but it was the large goofy grin that cheered her more than anything. In all the years she had known him she didn't think she had ever seen him this happy, which was saying something because Merlin had always been cheerful.

Now she wrung her hands together and waited hoping against hope, praying to whatever divine being was out there. When Gaius returned his face was unreadable. She stood and stared at him until a bright smile lit up his face.

Gwen burst into tears on the spot, dropping her head in her hands and then wrapping her arms around Gaius. "Thank you! Thank you!" She whispered. He patted her on the back chuckling.

"You will make a wonderful mother, Guinevere."

Of course, Merlin chose this moment to walk in.

"Gwen?" He asked. His voice filled with concern. As much as he loved his mentor, finding someone crying in his chambers usually boded ill. If Merlin hadn't just arrived from seeing Arthur he might have been really worried.

Gwen turned to him, her eyes already red, tears streaming down her face. "Are you alright?" he asked, but she didn't look upset, other than the tears, in fact when he asked her face lit up in a smile.

She looked happy, which again didn't make sense because of the tears, but slowly… very slowly Merlin pieced it all together and then his face lit up as well. He ran forward wrapping his close friend in his arms. "Gwen that's wonderful!" He said as though she had said something.

"Don't tell me you really are psychic, Merlin." Guinevere teased.

"I don't have to be." He said pulling away to look at her. "You're glowing!" He smiled and she smiled back. "Does Arthur know?" Merlin asked though knowing that he probably didn't or else he would have told him.

"No I only just found out." Gwen said looking suddenly nervous, she hadn't been the first time, but now for some reason the thought of telling Arthur made her stomach erupt in butterflies… in fact she felt quite sick.

"Oh I think I need to sit down." She stated. She saw Merlin's eyes flash briefly and then a chair appeared behind her. She sent him an exasperated look before sitting down but he just seemed concerned.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yes, my stomach is just a little upset." She stated giving him a small smile.

"Morning sickness is quite common in pregnancies milady." Gaius told her. "It's nothing to be too concerned about."

"I think its butterflies more than anything." Gwen assured him. She let her mind drift wondering how she was going to tell Arthur. She would have dinner made and brought to their quarters. It would be romantic, just the two of them.

She was already planning what they should eat as she left Gaius' chambers but ran into a messenger on her way to the kitchens to plan everything. "The King asked me to inform you that he was called away to an urgent meeting that may progress well into the night." The messenger told her.

She couldn't help but look disappointed but thanked the messenger and sent him on his way. _Tomorrow night then._ She told herself and busied herself with her regular duties for the day.

She didn't miss the looks that the servants she was working with sent her. She was yawning quite a bit and had hardly eaten any of her lunch, looking quite ill. By dinner she was starving however and ate probably a bit too quickly. Her maid looked at her knowingly but didn't say anything.

Gwen waited up as long as she could but dressed and got into bed deciding to read while she waited. It was not something she got to do often and she was rather enjoying it but found she couldn't keep her eyes open.

The next thing she knew she was waking up the next morning. She looked around the room, a sliver of light came through the curtains allowing her to make out her handsome husband lying next to her just watching her. Her book lay closed on the table next to her and she knew she hadn't put it there.

"Good morning." He whispered gently.

She smiled at him brightly and stretched without sitting up. "Good morning." She responded.

"You must have been busy yesterday." Arthur continued his hushed conversation. "You were asleep when I came in and continued to sleep long after I awoke. You're usually up before me."

She frowned. She wanted to say she didn't know why she was so tired but she didn't want to lie either, she still wanted to tell him over a romantic dinner. Luckily he was easily distracted.

"I had breakfast brought up." he stated jumping out of bed. Gwen smiled and sat up looking towards the two plates with food on them. As Arthur grabbed each one and brought it closer however, the smell of sausage reached her nose and her stomach flipped.

Not bothering to look at Arthur Gwen threw the covers off and ran to the chamber pot emptying her stomach of what remained of her dinner. She vaguely heard a clatter as he dropped the plates back on the table and rushed to her side rubbing her back. The gesture almost brought tears to her eyes, it was not a pleasant situation and she was actually rather embarrassed, but the love he showed calmed her nervousness.

When she was finished he handed her a goblet of water which she used to rinse her mouth out and then took a few sips. He took it from her when she was done and led her back to the bed. "Are you ill?" He asked as they both sat down, touching her forehead and peering very closely as if he could tell she was sick by the pores of her skin.

"No I'm alright." she said.

"We should take you to Gaius." Arthur said.

"No really, Arthur, I'm fine." Guinevere stated, her mind racing trying to figure out how she could get out of this without lying.

"Gwen you obviously aren't feeling well, we should go to Gaius. He may be able to give you something to help you feel better." He was already rushing around the room picking up clothes to dress himself and some of her own clothes as well.

"Arthur." She said in a commanding tone and he stopped and looked at her only halfway dressed. There was so much concern in his eyes that she simply sighed at him. She knew her plans for a romantic dinner were dashed, with the King so worried she would have to tell him now.

She held a hand out to him and he walked over and took it sitting down next to her. "I'm not ill." she assured him though she could see that he didn't look convinced.

Tears sprang to her eyes though she wasn't sure why and she laughed looking down at their hands and playing with his fingers. Arthur reached his free hand out and cupped her cheek. "Gwen." He said her name softly and she met his eyes again. "What's wrong?"

She could see all the love and concern in his eyes and it was all so overwhelming she thought she would just burst if she didn't tell him now. "There's nothing wrong at all, Arthur. In fact…" she glanced down at their hands again, "Something wonderful has happened."

Most people would have caught on by now, but handsome, silly, unobservant Arthur wasn't one of them. She looked him in the eye again, a bright smile on her face. "I'm pregnant, Arthur. We're going to have a baby." She watched as he processed this information, his expression slowly relaxed and then a large smile tugged at the corners of his mouth until he was laughing. He pulled her into an embrace and then she felt him tense.

He took her by the shoulders and pulled back quickly. "You're sure right?" He asked.

She nodded. "I confirmed it with Gaius yesterday."

"Yesterday…" he pondered. "Why didn't you tell me? Whatever I was doing I would have gladly dropped it for you."

She smiled. "I know, I wanted it to be special, somewhere just the two of us, with no distractions, I didn't plan on throwing up of course but I wanted to tell you when we could just be us for a moment. Not the King and Queen of Camelot, but Arthur and Guinevere and…" she laughed taking his hand and placing it on her stomach, "and our baby."

Arthur's smile returned and he lifted her up bridal style spinning in one circle and kissing her. She laughed with him and for the moment it was just them and their family, but this was something that the whole kingdom would rejoice, Gwen knew, and that thought made her happy too.

**AN: Not really satisfied with the ending but it was basically just supposed to be a oneshot of fluff so I don't mind it… just something to prove to myself that not all my stories have to turn out angsty or comedic… but most of them are angsty I suppose. This is my first finished Merlin fic and no I don't plan on continuing it unless I get a whole heck of a lot of 'please' in the review sections *hint hint***

**Check out my other stories!**

**God Bless!**


	2. Scars

**AN: So Since I've written this I've read a couple different "Merlin's Scars" stories and some of the similarities are scary. I just want to make it clear that although there are many similarities (great minds think alike) I promise that I came up with this entirely on my own.**

**Also this is another story from Happily-Ever-Afterville, I guess you could say it's a sequel to my previous story Happily-Ever-Afterville but not really.**

**Anyway hope you like it, sorry if I missed any scars that you wanted to hear about. On with the fic!**

Even after Arthur found out Merlin still had secrets. Everyone has one secret or another. Hardly anyone is an open book completely. It wasn't so much as he wanted to hide his scars from Arthur but that there seemed no point in showing them off.

Merlin would often recount varying tales of his and Arthur's adventures, the majority of them would end something like "And that's how Arthur got a scar from his shoulder blade to his hip." As a knight Arthur would often boast about his different scars but after he and Merlin became so close there didn't seem to be a point anymore, Merlin would boast for him.

Arthur could tell by the tone of Merlin's voice, even as he berated Arthur for doing something stupid on one particular adventure, that he was proud of Arthur. Proud of the decisions he made, the battles he fought, and even of the scars that were left behind.

It never occurred to Arthur that Merlin had scars of his own.

Merlin had hid them for years, not because he was ashamed of them but because the adventures they came from were often secret ones. Only Gaius knew of them and that was mostly because he had treated the majority of them. After Arthur found out about his magic Merlin didn't see a point in stopping his attempts at hiding them. What was he supposed to do, rip off his shirt and say "Hey Arthur come look at these scars?"

So he continued to hide them.

It wasn't until today that that changed. Merlin was in the middle of getting changed when Arthur burst into his new chambers. Merlin didn't like them very much, it was far too lonely being without Gaius and he wasn't used to having all this room, even if it was nice that he had a place to store magical objects and books now.

He and Arthur had lost any sense of privacy that they had long ago. Merlin always entered Arthur's chambers without knocking so he wasn't really surprised when Arthur did the same.

Merlin was shirtless, standing in front of his wardrobe, trying to decide what to wear that day, if the blue or the red scarf would go better with this shirt. He jumped when Arthur walked in.

Arthur had his mouth open as if he was going to say something but froze when he saw Merlin. It had never really occurred to him that he hadn't seen Merlin without a shirt on before. Merlin was almost always up and dressed before Arthur even when they were on a quest. Now staring at Merlin's bare torso he wondered why he had never noticed that before.

He couldn't seem to find the words to say. Merlin looked self conscious at his scrutiny and quickly grabbed a shirt and started to put it on to hide the scars once again.

"Wait." Arthur said, suddenly across the room and grabbing the shirt from Merlin. His voice was more gentle than usual and curious but not angry or hurt or even demanding.

"Where did you get those?" He asked pointing to the scars. "When did you get those?"

Merlin tried to shrug them off. "Oh these?" He asked as though he hadn't been hiding them for years. "You know, here and there."

Arthur continued to stare causing his former manservant to shift awkwardly. There was a burn mark on his stomach that had looked to be quite severe, now wrinkled and paler than the rest of his body. On his upper arm was an angry white line that looked like it had come from a sword. His collarbone was scarred from what looked like a mace. On his left side was a small round wound that Arthur knew had come from a crossbow bolt as well as a litany of other scars scattered around his torsol He circled around Merlin like a vulture and the man squirmed even more.

There were more scars on his back. There was one on his collarbone, the skin looked rough but it was hard to tell where it had come from. There was a thin line on his neck that looked surgical though Arthur had never remembered Merlin having surgery, but the worst by far was the one closer to his left shoulder. It looked almost like a knife wound but it seemed not only to scar the tissue where the knife had been but the veins surrounding it making it look like a mottled black web, as if the veins directly underneath had died.

The last scar actually caused Arthur to gasp a little. This seemed to jerk Merlin out of his reverie and he huffed turning around and trying to grab his shirt from Arthur. "Did you come in here for a reason?" Merlin snapped. "Or are you just going to stare at me?"

Arthur looked up at Merlin. "I want to know where these came from." He said, now his tone was commanding.

Merlin huffed again and continued to try and get his shirt but Arthur held it just out of reach. "Why?" Merlin finally said angrily finally giving up and crossing his arms over his chest.

Arthur looked indignant. "Because…" he trailed off trying to think up a good reason. "Just because!" He said, his commanding tone back again.

They just sat there staring at each other, finally Arthur spoke finding the words he had been searching for previously, he calmed more. "No more secrets Merlin." He said gently. "I know that most of those are scars you probably had to hide because of your magic." Merlin glanced around uncomfortably but Arthur managed to catch his eye. "You don't have to hide them anymore."

Merlin stared at him as if making a decision then finally huffed and sat down on his bed. Arthur pulled over a chair and sat in front of him. "Well some of them you already know of." He stated and Arthur was honestly surprised. He tried to think of times when Merlin had been injured but honestly it had never occurred to him that it would leave scars.

In his mind Merlin was always the same, nothing could change or scar him. Now he knew that it was just hopeful ignorance that had caused that line of thinking.

"Which ones?" Arthur asked gazing over the many scars as if they could jog his memory.

Merlin also looked down. "Umm…" he thought then pointed to the one on his arm. "This was from the first fight with the Knights of Medhir." Merlin stated.

Arthur nodded as he remembered. "Your first battle wound." He said smirking remembering how he had torn his shirt and hastily bandaged Merlin's arm. "I didn't expect it to scar like that though." Arthur said frowning.

"Well the knights were enchanted, their swords probably were too. The wound took longer to heal than normal." Merlin informed him. "Plus with everything that happened after it kept reopening."

Arthur nodded gravely, those had not been good times. Merlin saw the darkness in his king's eyes and quickly changed the subject. He placed his hand on his shoulder blade and rubbed at the rough skin. "This was from the first time we met each other." He said smiling.

Arthur laughed. "I tried to take your head off with a mace."

"And I stopped you… using magic." Merlin said not meeting Arthur's eyes.

"You cheated?" Arthur asked incredulously.

"Yeah." Merlin laughed. "You were going to kill me."

"Should've." Arthur mumbled grumpily.

"Glad you didn't." Merlin said and while there was still a smile on his face Arthur could see that he was turning more serious.

They stared at each other a moment then Arthur cleared his throat. "Any others that I was present for?" He asked.

Merlin's hand flew to his collarbone. "This was from that time we were ambushed." He stated.

Arthur chuckled. "You'll have to be a little more specific, Merlin."

Merlin smiled but was still serious. "The time we were separated from the other knights and spent the night in the woods hiding from bandits."

Arthur remembered. He had thought that Merlin was going to die then. The wound had been grave, dangerous, and then he had been separated from him and lost all hope of getting him back to Camelot and Gaius…

Arthur perked up as he thought of something. "The rock slide!" He said loudly and turned and glared at Merlin. "That was you!"

Merlin looked sheepish. "You wouldn't leave me behind." He said. "You were about to fight an amazing amount of men just to get to me, I was grateful but I didn't think even you could stand against those odds."

Arthur stared at his friend until Merlin turned away and looked at his hands.

"I would have defeated all those men." He assured Merlin.

"You don't know that." Merlin fought back.

"Neither do you!" Arthur barked angrily. "I don't want you to ever give up that easily again."

Merlin stared at him. "You were more than my manservant, Merlin, you were my friend, my advisor. That day made me realize just how much I trusted you, just how important you were to me." Arthur couldn't believe all these words were coming out. Words that he had never spoken before, that he had always kept buried, but Merlin and him were different people now. Merlin was no longer his servant but his Court Sorcerer. He didn't have to pretend anymore that he was just a servant.

Merlin glanced away awkwardly. "Funny you should say that because after you found me I tried to kill you several times."

Arthur's face screwed up into that ridiculous look he got whenever he didn't believe Merlin. "You… trying to kill me?"

Merlin laughed. "Luckily I'm a bad assassin." He said and looked over at Arthur's confused face.

"Morgana captured me and implanted the head of some kind of magical snake with many heads in the back of my neck." He lifted his hand and rubbed the surgical scar. "It made me want to kill you."

Arthur frowned. "What?" he asked. It was the only coherent question he could manage and it was full of disbelief.

"I tried to poison you, kill you with a crossbow, stab you with a sword, and melt your skin off in a bathtub." Merlin said lightly.

"What?" Arthur repeated.

"Luckily Gaius found out and attempted to remove it. It kept growing back though, I eventually had to confront Morgana and kill the creature that the head came from and then Gaius removed it." Merlin was staring far off now in his own world, remembering things that he couldn't explain to Arthur.

"The removal was what left the scar, not the implantation."

Arthur sat thinking about that for a long time. He saw the way the memory haunted Merlin despite his light hearted tone. Merlin had once told him that he felt it was his destiny to protect Arthur, to be forced to go against his destiny had probably caused more mental scarring than physical.

"What about that one?" Arthur asked pointing to the burn scar on his chest.

Merlin looked down at it and frowned for a moment. "That was from Nimueh." Merlin said.

Arthur shuddered at the name he hadn't heard in years. "Whatever happened to her?" He asked absentmindedly.

"I killed her… shortly after she gave me this." Arthur stared at Merlin in disbelief.

"_You _killed her?" He asked incredulously.

Merlin nodded. "I had to go and see her after you were attacked by the questing beast. The only way to save you was by drinking water from the cup of life."

"The cup of life." Arthur repeated. "So she had it before the druids."

Merlin nodded. "But in order to give life a life must be taken." Merlin said hesitantly as though he didn't want to explain to Arthur this part of the story.

Arthur stared at him. "Who's life?" He asked.

Merlin didn't meet his eyes. "I bargained mine at first." He said.

"_Mer_lin!" Arthur said angrily but Merlin interrupted.

"But they tried to take my mother's." He finished quickly.

Arthur stared at him. "She grew very ill and almost died. I planned on returning to demand they take my life instead of hers but Gaius beat me to it."

Arthur didn't say anything, completely enraptured with the story. "When I got there he was already dead and I was angry at Nimueh. I attacked her and she tried to kill me." He looked down at the burn on his chest. "That's where the burn came from."

"She thought she had succeeded but I killed her and the price was then paid, therefore saving Gaius' life."

Arthur sat quietly for a while taking that all in. "I cannot believe you kept all of this a secret from me." He said not in anger but awe, so much had happened behind the scenes without him even knowing. "I remember you coming to me after I had been injured. You were acting so strange and sounded like you were saying goodbye… I didn't realize you actually were." Arthur didn't mention how he had gone into a near panic the next day when his manservant was nowhere to be found only to grow increasingly angry at him when he showed up later that night, Arthur had him put in the stocks just for worrying him… he wondered how that must have aggravated his injury.

At this point Merlin huffed looking down at all his scars. "Do I really have to explain them all? This is going to take forever and I don't think I even remember half of them."

"There's just one more I want to know about." Arthur assured him after thinking it over awhile. He reached over and pointed to the puncture wound with the black flesh around it.

Merlin looked sad at that memory. "I followed Morgana when she met Morgause the day before Camelot was attacked by Cenred and the skeleton army." Merlin stated, this time giving Arthur all the details and letting them sink in. Arthur turned this new information over in his head, of course Morgana had been collaborating with Morgause at that time but he hadn't thought of it until that moment. "They discovered me and chained me, magically. Whenever I tried to resist or use magic to loosen the chains they would tighten."

Arthur listened with rapt attention wondering how in the world Merlin escaped. "I was surrounded by serkets."Arthur gasped only a little, he knew the sting of a serket could be very dangerous. "Only one managed to land a blow." Merlin reached to rub the spot on his back awkwardly.

"I summoned the great dragon…" Merlin began

"Wait." Arthur stopped him. "You summoned the great dragon… I thought he was dead." Even as he said it he remembered how Merlin had claimed that Arthur had killed the dragon but he still had no memory of it. He really must have been oblivious.

Merlin winced. "No… I ordered him to leave."

Arthur threw his hands up. "Well why didn't you do that in the first place?"

Merlin sighed. "Because I wasn't a dragon lord then."

Arthur stared at him with wide eyes. "You're a dragon lord?" he asked incredulously. "Forgot to mention that didn't you?" He cuffed Merlin over the head.

"Well it's not really important anymore seeing as there aren't any dragons left. Kilgarrah died only about a year ago." Arthur could see the pain in Merlin's eyes as he said those words, he was beginning to regret asking about the scars, they seemed to dredge up a lot of pain with them.

"What do you mean you weren't a dragon lord then?" He asked.

If possible, Merlin looked even sadder. "The title of dragon lord is passed from father to son, but only after the death of the father."

Arthur continued to frown in confusion turning the information over in his head. "Balinor, he was your father." He said realization dawning on his face. Merlin looked down at his hands a nodded sadly.

"He was."

They sat in silence for several moments. "I'm sorry." Arthur said. Merlin just nodded.

"Anyway," he said going back to his story, "I summoned the great dragon and he rescued me and healed me of the Serket's poison, but some of the damage had already been done."

Arthur nodded as he took in that information his mind reeling. He had known when he found out about Merlin's magic that he had been behind the scenes the whole time and he had always planned on having Merlin tell him some of those stories but still it was a bit of shock seeing just how oblivious he had been all that time.

"Everything you've done, I know now, for me, for Camelot, for the kingdom you helped me build…" Arthur trailed off not sure where this sentence was going. "I'm going to say something I've never said to you before…" He looked at Merlin who was no watching him intently. "Thank you."

They watched each other and slowly smiles spread across both their faces then Arthur reached a hand out and placed it behind Merlin's head pushing the man forward. "Now finish getting dressed. We have a long day ahead and I totally forgot but Gwen's waiting for us to eat breakfast."

Merlin stopped moving with his shirt only halfway on, completely covering his face. "You left Gwen waiting for us for breakfast?" His muffled voice almost sounded horrified.

"Yes and unless you want her to put us both in the stocks we'd better get moving. I honestly didn't know she would be this grumpy when she didn't get her meals."

Merlin finished pulling the shirt over his head and glanced at Arthur. "Well she is eating for two now." He supplied.

Arthur nodded agreeably. "That's true, I guess that would make one hungry."

Merlin laughed as he finished getting dressed. They walked out of the room, Arthur had one hand around Merlin's shoulders telling him a joke that had Merlin laughing. For the moment they forgot all their scars and enjoyed each other's friendship but even when they came across new ones, Merlin knew now that he didn't have to hide anything from Arthur.

**AN: So I really like how this one-shot turned out even if it was kind of long. It addressed a lot of the things I wanted to write about in respect to Arthur finding out about Merlin's magic… unfortunately there was no physical scar left from Freya's story otherwise I would have loved to write about that, but then again that story has been done several times.**

**I realized as Merlin was explaining that I had to tell more stories than I expected, like the one of Balinor because how else could Merlin explain that he summoned a dragon? So it turned out longer than I expected but I still like it a lot.**

**As you may have noticed some of the conversations are taken straight from the last episode with a bit of a twist on them. I'm not always terribly good with conversations so I try to cheat wherever I can ;) **

**Tell me what you think and feel free to read my other stories!**

**God bless!**


	3. Campfire Tales

**AN: Realized it's been a really long time since I updated this so decided to give it a go. On with the fic!**

Merlin laughed as Gwaine began stomping his flaming boot on the ground. He wasn't quite sure how the knight had managed to catch it on fire but it was funny nonetheless. Gwaine always seemed to be doing things that caused him to be endlessly teased by the rest of the knights.

Arthur laughed next to Merlin, lying on his side propped up on an elbow in front of the fire. They had gone to a neighboring kingdom in order to make a proclamation of peace and to try and appease the leaders on Camelot's change towards magic. Many of the kingdoms were upset, they remembered what life was like before the great purge and how those who used magic had taken advantage, they were angry at Camelot, who had always been strongly against magic, for suddenly changing. Now it was Merlin and Arthur's responsibility to not only convince the neighboring kingdoms that they had made the right choice, but to reintroduce magic in a peaceful way. It was a tough job, one that Merlin wasn't sure he was up too at first, but Arthur had as much faith in him as Merlin had always had in Arthur and that had given Merlin the confidence to step up to the challenge.

After Gwaine finished his theatric display he stood on one foot and bowed as the group began to clap, it was only by Percival's hand on his arm that he didn't manage to fall into the fire.

"Perhaps you should sit down, Gwaine." Leon suggested. Gwaine hopped over and sat down on a log. Merlin got up and sat down next to him, using magic to heal his burnt foot and fix his boot.

"Ah, Merlin. What did we do before you revealed that lovely gift to us?" Gwaine asked sighing in relief as the burn left his foot. Merlin just grinned back at him.

"Yes, Merlin, speaking of that gift," Arthur said with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "as entertaining as Sir Gwaine can be, I'd rather not have one of my knights dying by falling into a campfire, so entertainment will just have to come from you."

Merlin glared but only managed to look half angry. "Servant, healer, warrior, sorcerer, and now entertainer… why not?" Although the words should have been bitter Merlin couldn't bring his tone to reflect any bitterness or anger whatsoever. In all truth he was happy to show off a bit of his magic even if he probably never would get used to being the center of attention.

He thought for a moment as the rest of the knights around the campfire waited in anticipation. Merlin grinned and then his face grew serious. His eyes flashed gold and he saw all of them tense, watching waiting to see what would happen.

In the distance they could hear a rumble and they all became alert, some even reaching for their swords as the pounding rumble, like the footsteps of a giant pounded closer and closer towards them and the ground began to shake, they were just about to stand and search for it when Merlin started speaking and they realized it was all part of the entertainment.

_Fee fi fo fum! _

_Ask not whence the thunder comes,_

As Merlin said each word the giant steps beat in time to them. Shaking the ground and causing the knights to place their hands on either side of them for balance.

_Ask not where the herds have gone, _

_Or why the birds have ceased their song. _

Strange glowing creatures, that looked like blue fire, jumped through their campsite, sheep, cows, and horses and birds flew over their heads. They watched in awe before the animals were all gone and turned their attention back to Merlin who was smiling at them mischievously.

_When coming home don't take too long, _

_For monsters roam in Albion._

The ground shook one last time so hard that many gripped their seats tightly, then it stopped, all of them were sitting up now watching Merlin. Any wariness they had disappeared and they grinned along with their friend. "Fancy a story?" Merlin asked and they cheered quietly, settling themselves in to listen as Merlin focused his attention on the fire in front of them.

_Seeds they pulled from a magical pod_

_The monks grew a pathway to seek out their God_

From the fire sprouted what looked like a blue fiery stalk that grew up so high that the knights couldn't see the top, Gwaine fell over while leaning back to look and Merlin paused slightly in his story to pull the knight back up. Around the stalk stood similar glowing figures as before only these were dressed in the robes of monks and were very small, like toy dolls, one by one they began to climb the giant stalk higher and higher until they couldn't be seen either.

_But when they came to what they thought was Heaven's gate_

_They met with a terrible grisly fate_

The stalk rushed up all at once and suddenly they were at the top with the small monks who stood on a flat, blue-fire ground. They stood there staring at Merlin in awe and Merlin lifted a hand and brushed them off, they fell thrashing their arms and legs into the fire below.

_For between heaven and earth was a perilous place_

_Gantua! Home to a fierce giant race._

Merlin stood up and towered over tiny fire creatures who ran around on the ground away from Merlin who was acting the part of a giant. He stood watching them run as he said the next part.

_With a bridge now before them to the world of men_

_A plague of giants descends_

Whole small towns and cities appeared around the fire, in front of the knights and Merlin looked expectantly at them. When they didn't do anything Merlin sighed. "You guys make terrible giants." He whined. They all looked at each other, a grin of glee appearing on each of their faces as they began to smash through the houses and stomp on the small creatures. Merlin laughed and continued his story while the knights entertained themselves by crushing the imaginary creatures.

_Taking a cue from the richest of kings_

_They acquired a taste for acquiring things_

Merlin scooped up a handful of cows and tossed them into his money sack.

_But the one taste that caused them to lose all control_

_Was a taste for the mankind, blood, bones, and all_

At these words Gwaine lifted one little blue-fire man by the back of his blue-fire tunic and leaned his head back, dangling the man over his mouth before releasing him and pretending to chew. He rubbed his stomach. "Mmmm, delicious." He said and the whole circle burst out laughing, even Merlin.

_King Eric bade the monks to return to dark hearts_

_To find some way to rule giant hearts_

_So they melted one down mixed in magic and more_

_And they crafted a crown unlike any before_

Merlin showed a heart at the center of the fire, floating there and slowly drip by drip it melted away as he spoke then when there was nothing left the drippings swirled around and a magnificent blue crown appeared. Merlin smiled and lifted his hand pushing towards the crown, it flew across the fire and landed on Arthur's head directly across from Merlin. No one laughed but just sat staring at the magnificent sight of Arthur wearing a magical crown. They sat in silence a moment until Arthur cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable with everyone staring at him. Merlin continued his story.

_As soon as the king took the crown in hand_

_The giants were slave to his every command_

_He sent them back to the place of their birth_

_Their home now a prison between heaven and Earth_

_Eric severed the link between giants and men_

_And peace returned to his kingdom again_

The stalk and tiny monks appeared again, the monks chopped at the stalk until it fell down from the fire and into the forest where the knights couldn't see.

_The mystical relics were all that remained_

_Safe with Eric through the years that he reigned_

The images faded away and now everyone turned their attention to Merlin who was once again sitting staring into the flames.

_And when time came at last for King Eric to sleep_

_He took crown and seed with him for permanent keep_

No more images appeared however dark shadows seemed to loom from the forest making the knights feel on edge so much so that they almost jumped when Merlin's eery voice spoke again.

_And as the kings bones slowly crumbled away_

_Truth became legend… _

Merlin looked up at the knights and smiled mischievously.

_Or so people say…_

The knights all looked at each other chuckling nervously. It was Gwaine that spoke up first, clearing his throat. "Great story Merlin!" The rest of them laughed in agreement but despite trying to seem light and frivolous Merlin caught their nervous glances into the forest and couldn't help but pat himself on the back at a story well told.

Later that night Merlin would regret taking the teasing a little too far. It had seemed like a good practical joke, walk up behind Arthur and make his own shadow grow with magic, Percival caught on and stood behind Gwaine who was crouched next to Arthur, winking at Merlin the others who could see what was happening smiled and grinned in encouragement.

The two men had swung around swords in hand. Percival had gotten a gash on his arm and Merlin had fallen partially into the fire burning his hand. There were a lot of sheepish and guilty looks from both parties but after Merlin had patched them all up there was no end to the teasing that Arthur and Gwaine got, Gwaine of course receiving the brunt of it all like he always did.

Finally that night they were all asleep except Merlin and Arthur, Merlin was scratching at the itchy bandage on his arm, he hadn't been able to heal it completely but it definitely wasn't as bad as when he had first fallen in. Arthur reached over and smacked at his hand. "Stop that! You'll only make it worse."

Merlin glared. "Well it wouldn't be there at all if some dollop-head didn't get so spooked at a simple story."

Arthur scoffed. "You snuck up behind me, _Mer_lin, I **am** the king of Camelot, usually when someone is sneaking up behind me it isn't a good thing."

Merlin looked sheepish for only a moment. "Your back was to the fire, where all your knights were, did you really think someone could have silently gotten behind them in order to stab you in the back?"

Now Arthur looked sheepish. "Shut up, Merlin." He said as he always did when he was at a loss for words. Merlin smirked at him and he couldn't help but smile back. Even after all they had been through they never lost this. Arthur had been afraid so much would change when he discovered Merlin's magic, throughout everything that happened in his life, Merlin was the one constant. Finding out about his magic had been one of the most devastating things at the time because Merlin was the last thing he had that was familiar and safe. It wasn't until weeks after finding out, when Arthur had begun to heal from the initial feelings of betrayal that he began to realize that Merlin hadn't really changed at all, he was still the same Merlin, just a more magical one.

And he was certainly a lot more entertaining and Arthur had to admit it was comforting to know that Merlin was good at something and not completely incompetent.

He reached over and ruffled Merlin's hair. "Go to sleep." He ordered.

Merlin grunted and rolled over and they were silent a moment.

"Merlin?" Arthur called quietly.

"Hmm?" Said Merlin already sounding sleepy.

"There wasn't any truth to that story was there?" Arthur asked.

Merlin chuckled. "Goodnight, Arthur."

And no matter how many times Arthur asked he never got more of an answer than that.

**AN: Had an idea to write a campfire story and decided to borrow the story from Jack the Giant Slayer that they tell in the beginning, loved that movie so I hoped I did it some semblance of justice. If not I hope you enjoyed it anyway…**

**God bless!**

**Sneak Peak: Arthur get's a bit of practice at being a father in the next chapter but the circumstances for such practice will be a little awkward for him… and for Merlin…**


	4. Baby Merlin

**AN: I forget where I got this idea but thought it would be a cute fic to add in before Guinevere has her baby. I was originally going to make this a whole separate story line but decided to shorten it and add it onto this story.**

**Enjoy!**

Arthur stormed through the hallways towards Merlin's chambers, servants, guards, knights and even noble men and women jumped out of his way. The sight was not a rare one and had not been since Merlin first arrived nearly ten years ago but the reasons for such behavior had changed.

Arthur used to storm into Merlin's room because the idiot had forgotten to wake him or hadn't done his chores well enough. But it had been many years since Merlin had been Arthur's servant. Now when Arthur stormed there was usually a much more serious reason. Mainly that the king and his Court Sorcerer had gotten into a fight.

Today Arthur was worried, though he would never admit to it. It was nearly lunch and no one had seen Merlin all day. The sorcerer was known for leaving to do crazy and stupid things without telling anyone and ever since his magic was revealed there was also the risk of injuring himself with one of his experiments. As Arthur flew through the hallways he tried to convince himself Merlin was alright and decided to distract himself by thinking of ways to punish the man for making him worry.

In the past it had been easy, throw him in the stocks or the dungeons, or just simply assign him more chores. Punishing a known warlock was much more difficult. If he put Merlin in the stocks or dungeons he would just escape and if Arthur did choose to assign him chores Merlin would simply refuse to do them or use magic to accomplish them, which defeated the purpose. Arthur still found ways, however, and he was just coming up with a particularly good idea when he arrived at the door to Merlin's chambers.

Like Gaius' chambers Merlin's had a main room and then a smaller bedroom in the back where Merlin normally slept. The main room was surprisingly organized except for Merlin's work desk which held several tall, leaning towers of books as well as papers that covered every inch of the table and hung off the sides precariously or had already fallen to the ground. Arthur glanced at the mess, Merlin must be in the middle of one of his many projects.

"Merlin?" Arthur called towards the chamber since the front room was empty. He was at the door in several long strides. "I know you don't have to get up quite as early as normal, Merlin, but sleeping in till midday is quite ridiculous. . ." He trailed off as he entered the room. Unlike the main room this one was a complete mess. Clothes were strewn all over the floor and furniture, drawers and cabinets, all empty, hung open as well as other random knick knacks here and there, but amidst the mess there was no Merlin.

Arthur sighed wondering where the idiot had gotten too and was just about to leave when he heard a small, slightly strangled cry.

The sound made him pause and turn carefully back to the bed. He heard a tiny gasp and another rattling cry before he ran over to the bed and began sifting carefully through the pile of clothes and sheets.

He pulled back one last sheet to reveal a tiny baby with a very red face. Arthur felt panic creeping through his body as he stared at the bawling infant with wide eyes. Why was there a baby in Merlin's room? Where was Merlin? What kind of trouble had the idiot gotten into now?

Arthur had no idea what to do but figured he should probably try and calm the baby down, picking it up sounded risky, Arthur had only held one or two babies in his life and although he would be a father soon he didn't really want to try again just yet.

He reached out a hand and placed it awkwardly on the baby's dark hair. The infant took a few gasping breaths, immediately calming until it finally blinked its eyes open at Arthur. He gasped when he saw those blue eyes and familiar face and then said something that would sound really stupid for a variety of reasons. "Merlin you're a baby!" And then the Baby Merlin started screaming again.

Arthur stared at the babe a moment longer before the sound became too harsh on his ears. He looked around nervously, he knew he had to do something but couldn't bring himself to leave the babe alone and the baby was crying so hard it was making it hard to think. "Will you shut up?!" Arthur shouted, this had worked on Merlin in the past but only seemed to make the new version of him cry harder.

Finally giving up and realizing he would have to pick the baby up Arthur leaned down and gently scooped the baby up. Realizing it was naked he glanced around the room before spotting Merlin's neckerchief and wrapping it clumsily around the babe.

He moved slowly from the room, bouncing as he did so, baby Merlin held closely to his chest. They both began to calm down slightly. The babe stopped crying and instead cooed reaching a hand out to wrap its fingers in Arthur's chainmail. Arthur took a hand and gently extricated the tiny fingers not wanting them to get pinched.

As he walked he just stared at the little baby, completely enraptured. It looked so much like Merlin… but it couldn't be… could it? Arthur had no idea what kind of feats magic could accomplish but this one would be truly amazing. When Arthur really thought about it there could be no other explanation, the baby could be related to Merlin, maybe his son, but if that were the case Arthur doubted he would have found it buried in blankets and alone in Merlin's room. Merlin was many things but he was not that irresponsible.

Despite knowing that this was most likely Merlin and that if Merlin happened to remember anything from his baby state Arthur would be humiliated, he couldn't help making faces at the little thing. It smiled up at him and cooed some more causing Arthur's heart to melt.

And that was how Percival, Leon, and Gwaine found him as he walked around the corner. Arthur stopped in his tracks and stared at the men, he actually had no idea where he was, he had begun to walk on auto pilot and hoped that he was somewhere close to Gaius' chambers, but looking around he realized he had started moving closer to his own chambers without thinking.

The three knights all stared at him suspiciously. "What have you got there, Arthur?" Gwaine asked.

Arthur looked up at them and then down at the babe, Merlin probably wouldn't want the knights to see him like this, probably wouldn't want them to know he had anything to do with this.

"Is that Merlin's neckerchief?" Percival was the one who noticed.

Arthur swallowed, okay so how did he explain this one? What was going through their heads? Did they have any idea of what Arthur was nearly positive to be true?

Leon was the first to step forward deciding he should be the one to take the lead and approach their king who looked ready to bolt. He moved slowly as though he was trying not to startle a spooked horse. He peered down at the infant who was cooing at Arthur but turned its attention to Leon and smiled a large toothless smile.

Leon couldn't help but smile back at it and then frowned a little. "Sire, whose baby is that?" He asked. "It looks familiar."

"He." Arthur managed to croak out. He cleared his throat.

Now Percival moved closer, seeming more comfortable with a baby than Leon was, he smiled brightly at it and it gave a grin back. Percival's smile fell from his face. "I know that smile… Is this Merlin's baby?"

Arthur's mouth opened and closed making a few smacking noises but before he could say anything Gwaine rushed over, close enough to look but still a safe distance away his eyes widened. "He's the spitting image of Merlin… but how…" Suddenly Gwaine's eyes snapped up and he stared straight at Arthur who still had no idea what to say to get him and Merlin out of this situation. "It's not Merlin's… it _**is**_ Merlin, isn't it?" Arthur sighed, really when you spent most of your days with a magical warlock, nothing was surprising anymore, he really shouldn't have been surprised that Gwaine figured it out.

His defeated sigh was enough for the other knights who took a few steps back as though catching baby was possible. When the little Merlin didn't have anyone to entertain him anymore his lower lip stuck out in a pout and he began to scream again.

All of Arthur's calmness abandoned him with that first scream and he was practically running towards Gaius' chambers in the seconds that followed, the knights moving quickly out of the way to let him through. He didn't bother worrying about what people would think of the king of Camelot carrying a squalling baby through the castle in a small thin raggedy looking thing.

After what felt like forever Arthur burst into Gaius' chambers causing both Gaius and Guinevere, who Arthur now remembered was there for Gaius to check up on her. She was already showing quite a bit and Arthur looked down at the baby in his arms and back to her stomach. He didn't know how he was going to deal with a more permanent baby.

Because whatever was happening to Merlin was _**definitely**_ temporary.

Gaius and Gwen ran over, Gwen held her arms out to the baby immediately sensing Arthur's distress. "Arthur what is going on?" She asked, taking the crying infant from him and bouncing like an expert, Merlin immediately calmed down to a quiet whimpering cry.

"Merlin… It's… he's… I mean… tiny… baby!" Arthur gasped and pointed with wide eyes at the baby and then began to pace. "I don't know what happened! I found him… and he was crying… and he was _Mer_lin! And I don't like it when Merlin cries… it's awkward… and now it's even more awkward and I'm never **EVER** going to live this down am I?" He asked finally stopping and staring at Gwen and Gaius.

They both stared back at him like he had grown donkey ears again and was braying instead of actually speaking English. Gwen approached him but that didn't seem to help since she was holding Baby Merlin, Arthur got spooked and backed up quickly. Gaius placed a hand on her arm and moved past her.

"Arthur, where did the baby come from?" Gaius asked.

"Merlin!" Arthur blurted out.

Gaius raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Are you saying this child belongs to Merlin?" Gaius asked incredulously.

Arthur took a deep breath. "No, I'm saying this child _**is**_ _Mer_lin!" Arthur stated loudly breaking the delicate calm that Gwen had managed to place over the baby and he started crying again.

The incredulous looks didn't cease.

"Look at him!" Arthur proclaimed.

Gaius moved closer to Gwen and they examined the baby's face, but it was so scrunched up as it screamed that they couldn't distinguish his features. "Well whoever it is or whoever it belongs to I suppose we should take care of it for the time being." Gaius began bustling about and Gwen followed him, for the moment not looking like the regal queen of Camelot but like any other kind and thoughtful woman.

Arthur watched in near horror as Gwen dressed Baby Merlin in a cloth diaper provided by Gaius, he really hoped Merlin didn't remember this, and wrapped him expertly until he was snug and comfortable. This seemed to calm him a little but he didn't cease his crying until Gaius returned with some mashed up food and began spooning it to the infant. Most of it seemed to end up all over Baby Merlin's face but he stopped crying and ate it hungrily.

Feeding him took awhile but after it was all done they sat down in a circle, Gaius and Gwen inspected the baby while Arthur sat some distance away. When the babe had a belly it turned its blue eyes and smiled up at Gwen. She and Gaius both gasped and Arthur marveled that it was the smile that everyone seemed to recognize, that ear to ear grin couldn't possibly belong to any other face other than Merlin's. Even as a baby.

Gwen and Gaius looked up at Arthur in amazement and he gave them a look that screamed "I TOLD YOU SO!"

"How did this happen?" Gaius asked.

Arthur shrugged. "I have no idea, I knew I should have censored his experiments somehow." Arthur grumbled. "He gets too easily carried away."

Gwen frowned. "You think this was a product of one of his experiments?" Gwen asked.

"What else could it be?" Arthur asked.

Gaius nodded. "After the aging spell Merlin was always worried about one day losing his youth. It makes sense that he might be experimenting with such a thing." Arthur nodded in agreement.

"How do we reverse it?" Arthur asked, next to Merlin, Gaius was there expert on anything related to magic.

Gaius shrugged. "Well it should wear off."

Arthur slumped in relief. "How long?"

"About twenty-five years."

Arthur's breath caught in his throat and he started to sputter until he saw the teasing look on Gaius' face, he smiled uneasily at the man. "You're joking."

Gaius sighed. "Well left unattended it would be the truth, luckily, just as I know of a potion to reverse his aging spell I also know of one to reverse a youth spell, it will take some time to make but I should be able to reverse it."

Arthur nodded looking at Baby Merlin. "What do we do with him until then?" He asked.

"Keep him entertained." Gaius shrugged again.

At that moment Baby Merlin turned his head towards Arthur and looked at him, then started to cry again. Guinevere started bouncing but could not calm him down. "Great…" Arthur mumbled.

~.~.~.~

Guinevere and Arthur ended up leaving Gaius' chambers to give him some peace but no matter what Gwen tried to do she couldn't get Baby Merlin to calm down and after nearly two hours of trying Arthur could see she was getting exhausted.

Finally exasperated she huffed and walked directly over to Arthur placing Baby Merlin in his arms. "Here!" She said upset. "He's your Court Sorcerer."

Arthur was about to protest loudly when Baby Merlin suddenly stopped crying. Arthur looked down at him.

Gwen who was completely frazzled, looked like she didn't know whether to laugh or cry, eventually she decided on the latter and Arthur glared at her.

"You can't leave Baby Merlin with me!" He said indignantly.

Gwen was still trying to stifle her giggles. "He seems to like you." She pointed out.

Arthur sputtered. "I have no idea what to do with babies!" he said indignantly.

Gwen smiled. "There's not much _**to **_do, Arthur. Just hold him, make funny faces, if he cries I'll help, but right now I am very tired and would like very much to take a nap." She said firmly. Arthur opened his mouth to protest again but Gwen did look tired and he was slightly worried about her so finally he just nodded.

Arthur knew that as the king of Camelot he wouldn't be doing this much when he actually became king. Guinevere would be spending a lot of time with the baby but even she would eventually turn over a lot of motherly duties to a nursemaid. Of course he planned on being a good father and spending as much time with his child as possible but that was the life of a royal.

As it turned out, Arthur was a natural, though he assumed part of that was because Baby Merlin knew who he was and trusted him. He could only hope he was as gifted with his own children. He had to admit it was actually pretty fun, he spent the majority of his time making faces and then Merlin finally fell asleep in his arms. He slept for hours in Arthur's arms as the regent was too nervous to put him down for fear he would start crying again. When he awoke Guinevere helped Arthur by changing and feeding Baby Merlin (Arthur really couldn't stop hoping that Merlin would **NEVER EVER** remember this).

~.~.~.~

When Gaius returned Merlin was lying on the bed cooing and giggling up at Arthur, who had stopped feeling silly for making faces at the infant a long time ago. He looked up at Gaius with a somewhat disappointed expression which he quickly replaced with a more blank one.

Gaius chuckled. "Don't worry sire, in a few months you will have a more permanent child to play with whenever you please." Arthur glared at the insinuation that Arthur was actually enjoying himself… no matter how much truth was in the statement.

Gaius took the babe and disappeared with it. An hour later he returned with a very adult looking Merlin.

"Ah, Merlin. Done lazing about I see?" Arthur asked uncomfortably.

Merlin sent Arthur an embarrassed and scathing look.

Guinevere just laughed. "Do you remember anything Merlin?" she asked.

Merlin and Arthur's eyes met and Arthur could see the fear and panic in those eyes as well as the slight blush that tinged his cheeks. He didn't know if that was because Gaius had told Merlin that the king and queen had taken care of him while he was in baby form or if he actually remembered something. He glared suspiciously at the Court Sorcerer.

Merlin cleared his throat. "Nope, nothing!" He said a little too cheerily as his voice cracked then his eyes met Arthur's again and they both agreed silently to never speak of this again.

… If only the knights had acquiesced to that agreement…

Merlin and Arthur were never **EVER** going to live this one down.

**AN: SO the ending was kind of abrupt but I had already written so much, I don't usually make my one-shots this long. I cracked up as I was writing this story and when I went back to read it again, especially the parts where Arthur first finds Merlin and then runs into the knights. It's funny how you can write something and not really feel like you're writing it or that it's your ideas, just something else you're reading.**

**As I was saying before I was thinking about making this into a longer fic about Merlin turning into a baby and then speedily growing up over a matter of weeks. I thought it would be interesting to see Arthur handle Merlin in his different stages of life but alas I don't have the motivation to write such a story at the moment. Maybe someday…**

**Anyway hopefully next chapter Guinevere will have her baby and then I think I'll skip around a little more, jumping a few years ahead and then a few years back etc. I don't really have a ton of ideas for these one-shots I'm just making it up as I go.**

**Hope you enjoyed, leave me a review!**

**God bless!**


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